Sandy was as devastating in Moonachie, Little Ferry as it was on the Shore, federal report says

Little Ferry and Moonachie were the Bergen County towns hardest hit by superstorm Sandy, with more than half of their homes taking in at least one foot of water, data released Wednesday by federal housing authorities showed.

The report, which accompanied a $1.82 billion aid infusion from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is based on FEMA home inspection data, and measures housing damage from the October storm.

Hackensack and the greater Meadowlands region were also singled out as areas of concentrated damage. But the destruction in Little Ferry and Moonachie was particularly severe – on par, in terms of percentage of flooded homes, with the hardest-hit stretches of the shore.

And it was the poorest parts of the two towns, particularly families with children and elderly households, that saw the most damage, according to the report.

“Damaged neighborhoods in Little Ferry … have high rates of severe overcrowding and persons that do not speak English very well,” the report said. “Damaged neighborhoods in Moonachie seem to have very high rates of mobile homes, which may signal the need for greater recovery resources.”

Moonachie, population 2,700, and Little Ferry, population 10,600, have median household incomes of around $54,000, roughly $30,000 below the Bergen County average.

The HUD report came with an interactive map of damage estimates based on FEMA inspection data. Blocks of eastern Moonachie and Little Ferry stand out as a deep red splotch in northern New Jersey, meaning that 70-100 percent of houses there were flooded. The towns’ western areas saw 43 to 69 percent flooding.

Roughly 2,500 residents in Little Ferry and Moonachie have registered with FEMA, the map shows. While many experienced basement flooding, nearly 1,000 residents had one to four feet of flooding in their first floor.

Moonachie Mayor Dennis Vaccaro said he hoped the report — which he had not yet seen — would encourage state officials to send recovery and mitigation aid to his town. “It’s important to give homeowners and businesses a head start, so they can rebuild,” Vaccaro said.

More than 2,000 residents were evacuated from Little Ferry and Moonachie the night Sandy hit. But in the months since, many residents fear their small pocket of Bergen County has been forgotten.

“I think there’s a lot of focus on the Shore area because that’s the economic engine of the state, but there’s a need up here also, and we can’t just be forgotten,” Vaccaro said. “The areas in this region need to be addressed.”

Email: obrien@northjersey.com

A rescue worker carries a woman to dry ground in Little Ferry after rescuing her from her home Tuesday morning.

Little Ferry and Moonachie were the Bergen County towns hardest hit by superstorm Sandy, with more than half of their homes taking in at least one foot of water, data released Wednesday by federal housing authorities showed.

The report, which accompanied a $1.82 billion aid infusion from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is based on FEMA home inspection data, and measures housing damage from the October storm.

Hackensack and the greater Meadowlands region were also singled out as areas of concentrated damage. But the destruction in Little Ferry and Moonachie was particularly severe – on par, in terms of percentage of flooded homes, with the hardest-hit stretches of the shore.

And it was the poorest parts of the two towns, particularly families with children and elderly households, that saw the most damage, according to the report.

“Damaged neighborhoods in Little Ferry … have high rates of severe overcrowding and persons that do not speak English very well,” the report said. “Damaged neighborhoods in Moonachie seem to have very high rates of mobile homes, which may signal the need for greater recovery resources.”

Moonachie, population 2,700, and Little Ferry, population 10,600, have median household incomes of around $54,000, roughly $30,000 below the Bergen County average.

The HUD report came with an interactive map of damage estimates based on FEMA inspection data. Blocks of eastern Moonachie and Little Ferry stand out as a deep red splotch in northern New Jersey, meaning that 70-100 percent of houses there were flooded. The towns’ western areas saw 43 to 69 percent flooding.

Roughly 2,500 residents in Little Ferry and Moonachie have registered with FEMA, the map shows. While many experienced basement flooding, nearly 1,000 residents had one to four feet of flooding in their first floor.

Moonachie Mayor Dennis Vaccaro said he hoped the report — which he had not yet seen — would encourage state officials to send recovery and mitigation aid to his town. “It’s important to give homeowners and businesses a head start, so they can rebuild,” Vaccaro said.

More than 2,000 residents were evacuated from Little Ferry and Moonachie the night Sandy hit. But in the months since, many residents fear their small pocket of Bergen County has been forgotten.

“I think there’s a lot of focus on the Shore area because that’s the economic engine of the state, but there’s a need up here also, and we can’t just be forgotten,” Vaccaro said. “The areas in this region need to be addressed.”